Going Rate Reductions for Your SOC Code: UK Skilled Worker Rules (2026)

To work out the going-rate reduction for your SOC code in 2026, start from the occupation's standard going rate, then check whether a published reduction applies: a published lower going rate for that occupation, an Immigration Salary List (ISL) discount, or the route's absolute floors. The figures that frame every calculation — effective 8 April 2026 — are the £41,700 general threshold, the £33,400 lower threshold, the £25,000 ISL absolute floor, and the hourly floors of £17.13 and £12.82.

That is the whole method in one sentence, but each check has its own published figures and its own small print — and the reductions only ever apply in the cases the official tables actually publish. This guide walks through the method step by step using gov.uk's figures only. If you have not yet found your occupation's standard going rate, start with our UK Skilled Worker going rate 2026 guide, or go straight to the SOC codes with salary — full going-rate lookup.

How do you work out the going rate reduction for your SOC code?

Look up your occupation's standard going rate, then check three things in order: whether the tables publish a lower going rate for that occupation, whether the occupation sits on the Immigration Salary List, and which absolute floor applies to your case. Your salary must clear both the applicable threshold and the applicable going rate for your SOC code.

In practice, that means four steps:

1. Find the standard going rate for your SOC code. Every eligible occupation has one, and it is the starting point for every reduction. You can find yours in seconds in our SOC code lookup.
2. Check for a published lower going rate. Some occupations — 55 of the 261 codes we track — have a second, reduced figure published alongside the standard one. If your occupation does not have one, there is no per-occupation reduction to apply.
3. Check the Immigration Salary List. If your occupation code is on the ISL, a separate discount mechanic applies — covered in detail below, and in our Immigration Salary List 2026 guide.
4. Apply the absolute floors. Whatever reduction applies, the published floors still bind — the £25,000 (£12.82/hr) absolute minimum used for many ISL roles being the lowest of them.

Here are the framing figures in one table. For how these thresholds fit into the wider sponsorship picture, see our UK visa sponsorship salary thresholds 2026 guide.

Figure	Amount	When it applies
General salary threshold	£41,700	The standard Skilled Worker case, alongside your SOC code's standard going rate
Lower salary threshold	£33,400	Published reduced cases, alongside the occupation's published lower going rate where one exists
ISL absolute floor	£25,000	The absolute minimum floor used for many Immigration Salary List roles
Standard hourly floor	£17.13	The hourly figure the official table pairs with the £33,400 standard rate
Lower hourly floor	£12.82	The hourly figure paired with the £25,000 absolute minimum

All of these took effect on 8 April 2026, are based on a 37.5-hour working week, and are pro-rated for other working patterns. A part-time or compressed-hours role does not change the hourly arithmetic — it changes the annual figure the hourly floor implies.

What is the lower going rate?

A lower going rate is a reduced, per-occupation salary figure published alongside the standard going rate in the official tables. Of the 261 SOC codes we track, 55 carry a dual-verified published lower rate. It applies only in the cases the rules publish — such as qualifying new entrants — never by default.

Two points stop most confusion here. First, the lower going rate is per occupation: it is not a single percentage applied across the board, and most SOC codes do not have one at all. If the tables do not publish a lower figure for your code, no per-occupation reduction exists for it. Second, having a published lower rate does not mean any applicant can use it — it applies only where the applicant's circumstances match a published reduced case, qualifying new entrants being the familiar example. The salary still has to clear the applicable threshold too, which in reduced cases is the £33,400 lower threshold rather than the £41,700 general one.

The practical takeaway: never assume a reduction — look your code up. Our salary threshold by role guide shows how sharply the figures move between occupations, and the full SOC lookup shows both rates for every code that has them.

What does a reduction look like for a real SOC code?

Take SOC 1111, chief executives and senior officials: the standard going rate is £88,100, and the published lower rate is £60,000. In a published reduced case, the figure to clear drops to £60,000 — still comfortably above the £33,400 lower threshold, so the going rate remains the binding number.

Here are five real examples from the published tables, all dual-verified against gov.uk:

SOC code	Occupation	Standard going rate	Published lower rate
1111	Chief executives and senior officials	£88,100	£60,000
1121	Production managers and directors in manufacturing	£55,000	£40,000
1122	Production managers and directors in construction	£53,400	£41,400
1123	Production managers and directors in mining and energy	£54,000	£47,100
1131	Financial managers and directors	£75,100	£49,700

Notice how uneven the gaps are: SOC 1131, financial managers and directors, drops from £75,100 to £49,700, while SOC 1123 only moves from £54,000 to £47,100. That unevenness is exactly why a flat mental discount fails — the only reliable method is reading the two published figures for your specific code. The occupation pages in our lookup — for example SOC 1111, chief executives and senior officials — show both rates side by side where a lower rate exists.

How does the Immigration Salary List discount work?

An applicant whose occupation is on the Immigration Salary List must be paid at least the higher of two figures: the discounted general salary threshold, which acts as an absolute floor, and 80% of the going rate for that specific occupation code. Gov.uk describes this as needing “80% of the route's usual minimum rate”.

The ISL discount applies to Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker applicants whose occupation code is on the list. In the official ISL table, each occupation lists a “standard rate” — the normal Skilled Worker going-rate floor, generally £33,400 a year or £17.13 an hour — and a discounted “lower rate”, the ISL figure reflecting the 80%-of-going-rate and general-threshold floor. The absolute minimum floor used for many ISL roles is £25,000 a year (£12.82 an hour). Because the 80% figure is calculated per occupation code, ISL lower rates vary from role to role: the published ISL lower rate is £25,800 (£13.23/hr) for SOC 1212 (managers and proprietors in forestry, fishing and related services), £25,000 (£12.82/hr) for SOC 1232 (residential, day and domiciliary care managers and proprietors), and £31,300 (£16.05/hr) for SOC 2111 (chemical scientists).

The deadline matters as much as the mechanic. The ISL is being phased out: all occupations below RQF 6 on the list remain in place until 31 December 2026, the removal date, except care worker and senior care worker roles (SOC 6135 and 6136), which have an extended eligibility date of 22 July 2028. The ISL is intended to be replaced by the Temporary Shortage List (TSL). If your plan relies on an ISL discount, the calendar is now part of the calculation — our Immigration Salary List 2026 guide tracks the list and its dates in full.

What is the absolute minimum you can be paid?

£25,000 a year — £12.82 an hour — is the absolute minimum floor used for many ISL roles, raised from £23,200 on 9 April 2025. The standard hourly floor is £17.13. Every figure assumes a 37.5-hour working week and is pro-rated for other working patterns.

The floors are the backstop of the whole system: however the reductions stack, the published floors still have to be cleared. The hourly floors do the same job for non-standard hours that the annual floors do for a standard week — because everything is calculated against a 37.5-hour baseline, an applicant working different hours has their figures pro-rated rather than compared straight against the annual numbers. That is why the official tables print both an annual and an hourly figure, with £17.13 an hour sitting alongside the £33,400 standard rate and £12.82 an hour alongside the £25,000 minimum.

If you are comparing floors across the whole route rather than one SOC code, our salary thresholds guide puts the £41,700, £33,400 and £25,000 figures in their wider context.

Going rate reductions FAQ

Where do I find the going rate for my SOC code?

The published figures live in the Immigration Rules' Appendix Skilled Occupations on gov.uk. For a faster route to the same data, our SOC code lookup lists the standard going rate for every eligible code — and the published lower rate alongside it for the codes that have one.

Does every SOC code have a lower going rate?

No. Of the 261 SOC codes we track, 55 carry a dual-verified published lower rate. If your occupation is not one of them, there is no per-occupation reduction to apply — the standard going rate and the applicable threshold are the figures that matter.

Who can actually use a published lower rate?

Lower rates apply only in the cases the rules publish — qualifying new entrants being the familiar example — and never by default. Having a published lower rate on your SOC code's row is necessary but not sufficient: your circumstances must match a published reduced case, and the £33,400 lower threshold still applies.

Is the Immigration Salary List discount still available in 2026?

Yes, but it is being phased out. Occupations below RQF 6 on the ISL remain in place until 31 December 2026, except care worker and senior care worker roles (SOC 6135 and 6136), which run to 22 July 2028. The ISL is intended to be replaced by the Temporary Shortage List (TSL).

Can my salary be below £25,000 on the Skilled Worker route?

£25,000 a year (£12.82 an hour) is the absolute minimum floor used for many ISL roles — the general absolute salary floor was raised from £23,200 to £25,000 on 9 April 2025. Remember the figures assume a 37.5-hour week and are pro-rated for other working patterns.

Source: gov.uk Immigration Rules, Appendix Skilled Occupations (figures effective 8 April 2026; checked 7 August 2026). This article reports published salary data and is not legal or immigration advice. Figures and rules can change — always check gov.uk for the current position before applying, and speak to a regulated immigration adviser about your individual circumstances.